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The first deadline for savings on season pass prices for the 2020-2021 season is coming, and skiers and snowboarders will have to decide whether the low cost or the uncertainty of COVID-19 virus carries more weight.

Snowbird and Snowbasin Resort on Wednesday unveiled their compensation plans for season passholders whose spring skiing and snowboarding was cut short by COVID-19.

Skiers and snowboarders who hold this season's Epic Pass will get between 20 and 80 percent credit on the price of the 2020-21 multi-resort pass.

The uncertainty of when, where and for how long the COVID-19 outbreak will last has forced much of the country into flexible mode -- and the two behemoths in the multi-resort season pass business are no different.

After opening up sales for 2020-2021 passes in early March, both Epic Pass and Ikon Pass have evolved over the last month as conditions change.

The doors have been flung wide open in the quest for 2020-2021 multi-resort passes as Vail Resorts unveiled its pricing and benefits for the Epic Pass and its ancillaries.

In an unusually transparent move for the ski industry, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area has released data on skier numbers that Chief Operating Officer Alan Henceroth promised to provide following a particularly busy Saturday in February.

I don’t usually get confused in public restrooms, but there I was in the men’s room at the Mangy Moose: totally stumped. It was December, Jackson Hole was beginning to see the storms of this winter’s historic snowfall, and the skiing was superb. Town morale should have been peaking. There in the urinal, however, was a bumper sticker to the contrary that read IKONnot Ski. I was immediately bummed. The attitude it reflects is pervasive: that multi-passes, specifically Ikon and Epic, are bad for skiing and bad for ski towns.

For the third-straight year, Vail Resorts is having a major impact on the East Coast ski industry.

It’s the time of year to ponder passes.  

Both the Epic Pass and Ikon Pass streamline skiing and riding costs during the winter. Now that summer's here, they switch gears to make warm-weather times in the mountains more affordable, too.

The season pass landscape has erupted with options. Chief among them for access to worldwide areas are Ikon and Epic passes.

With a boffo snow year all across the nation, the multi-resort season passes earned their keep in 2018-2019 as skiers and riders hop-scotched around. Now, those same passes are up for sale for next season.

For skiers and riders who’d like to sample some of Vail’s 14 resorts, but aren’t ready to commit to a full $939 season pass, Vail Resorts is now offering “Epic for Everyone,” a day-ticket option that puts lift access as low as $106 for a day of skiing. 

Alterra and Vail Resorts are going head to head snapping up resorts. Can they save skiing and make selling lift tickets a viable business?

Sometimes rapid growth isn't all it's cracked up to be. Arapahoe Basin has found that to be true and, because of it, announced it will no longer be part of Vail Resort's season pass portfolio next season.

Two of the largest family-owned resorts remaining in the ski and snowboard industry will come into the Epic Pass portfolio next season.

As we bid a fond farewell to 2018, the editors at SnoCountry take a look at the news that shaped skiing and riding at mountain resorts across North America over the year.

Here’s a sample road trip for those who have purchased an Epic Pass, have a week or two on the loose, and are ready to ski and ride across the West without having to shell out for a day ticket.

The State of New Hampshire has approved the transfer of the lease of Mount Sunapee Resort to Vail Resorts.

Those in the market for 2018-19 season passes at Vermont resorts still have time to save big, thanks to fall deadlines on some of the best deals in the business.